Yesterday, the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee released the first listing of teams in each region that the Committee feels that are the top teams in each region. So while the listing released yesterday does not indicate the actual placement of teams, it does give us an idea of what teams the Committee is taking a hard look at and, for us in the MIAC, I was definitely pleased to see both GAC and Concordia listed. So, here's a look at the teams from Region 9 that are listed for consideration along with the latest records after action on Wednesday night with conference records listed first and overall records listed second:
|
Region 9 |
|
|
|
Concordia-Moorhead |
15-4 |
18-4 |
|
Gustavus Adolphus |
17-2 |
20-2 |
|
Loras |
11-2 |
18-4 |
|
UW-Eau Claire |
8-4 |
17-6 |
|
UW-Oshkosh |
7-5 |
17-6 |
|
UW-Whitewater |
9-3 |
18-5 |
|
Wartburg |
13-0 |
18-4 |
First things first. We know that GAC absolutely obliterated Concordia last night in the Showdown in St. Peter so, when you look at what the Gusties have done; not only in the conference but with their number of total wins as well, I think you could make a pretty strong argument for them being ranked number one next week and I think you could make that argument stand up amongst the other teams listed here - as long as the Gusties take care of business at home in Lund Arena against St. Kates - a game in which they'll be heavily favored. The big question now revolves around last night's disaster for the Cobbers who were obviously hoping to make a big splash. Does this loss last night knock the Cobbers out of the rankings next week - even if they handle business relatively easily against St. Scholastica on Saturday? That's something we don't know yet. You can argue that the Cobbers have a better overall record than some of the other teams listed here (which they do) but is that alone going to be enough? A couple of positives that Concordia can hang their hat on: They do have that win over GAC back in late November in their back pocket and the fact that Amherst - a team the Cobbers beat in double OT out in Vegas right before the first of the year - is listed as one of the teams being considered in Region 1, could be a significant boost for them in the final analysis.
Loras recorded a relatively easy win over Luther last night while Wartburg had to hold off a pesky Central team on the road in Pella. But, the Knights do remain unblemished in ARC play and currently have a two-game lead on the Duhawks at the moment. Both teams have what appear to be winnable games on Saturday so, assuming both hold serve, one can certainly make an argument for Wartburg in the top spot although that regular season finale between these two on 2-18 in Dubuque will be fun to say the least.
Ahhh, and there's the wacky WIAC to talk about too. UW-Whitewater scored a huge win last night against arch-rival UW-Oshkosh (b'gosh) which has the Warhawks tied for first place in the conference at 9-3 with UW-Stout. Now, what's really odd to me is that UW-Stout also has an identical 9-3 conference record and a 17-6 overall record just like UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh. Yet, for whatever reason, the Committee did not have them listed on this initial listing of teams. And I can't tell you as to why that is (and if someone over on the WIAC side who might be reading this does have some inside knowledge, hey, I'm all ears). Obviously, there's still a lot of untangling left to be done over in the WIAC yet so we'll just have to stay tuned.
Again, I don't want to infer too much from this listing of teams. As we all know, things can change significantly from week to week. But at least we have a little something to sink our teeth into and we'll see what changes come out about a week from now.
Feel free to fire away with thoughts......
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